I'm going book shopping-for me

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I'm humouring dh for a while and have agreed to spend the money I do on mags every month on a good book instead.I love reading but haven't read a book for about maybe a year.I'm quite fussy and if I don't like the start will often give up on it,but when I find one I like I can't put it down.I have to stop myself reading the end first to get a feel for it.I have told dh he is not to advise me on what to go for but I will choose.He has picked books for me before and sometimes has a hit and I like it but we don't have the same taste.I'm excited to be going in and choosing but is there any recommendations from anyone?I want to go in with a list of ones to check out.And which authors should a modern woman in her mid 30's of average intelligence be reading to improve her knowledge of long words,enjoy and impress a dh.

Oh, Prufrock, I ADORE that novel. I have a hideous 70s paperback edition somewhere with a nasty lurid painting of Katherine and John on the front. I first read it when I was 14 and just lived and breathed medieval England for months afterwards. Have you ever thought of going to Lincolnshire and trying to find Kettlethorpe...I still think if we were in the area for any reason I'd try and persuade dh to take a detour.
Such a shame it is out of print. Did you also read Dragonwyck and Avalon and Green Darkness? Bring back Anya Seton!
PS Jimjams and hmb, I loved the Red Tent too. And am currently enjoying William Boyd's Any Human Heart. I'd read the phone book if it had his name on the front.

Didn't go to Kettlethorpe - but on my first visit to the Savoy (metting dh father for first time) I did think that I could be eating my dinner on the very spot where Katherine had lost it.

Prufrock,thanks for your recommendations,they sound good to me.
Anne Tyler is a great writer,I like her style.I'm getting into the story although it's not gripping me yet but just slowly unfolding.

About a year ago I read "Fortunes Rock" by Anita Shreve which was excellant. Since then have managed to get through most of her books which have all been good and the latest one "Sea Glass" is especially good.

I thought of a couple more ... These are fairly short books.

Shayma Perera - Do the Right Thing (a modern day tale based on the story surrounding Ramadan). I thought it was excellent !

William Sutcliffe - Are you Experienced. One of my all time funniest books. About a young bloke who goes off travelling around India and gets into all sorts of funny situations

Oh Madie, I liked Are You Experienced too. New Boy by the same author is also good.

I manage about one book a year, but recently read and adored Don't let's go to the dogs tonight by Alexandra Fuller. It's about a family of poor white farmers in Zimbabwe at independence but it has enormous resonance for anyone who's ever coped with bereavement, or whose family members are seriously mad.